DECADE 9
Regeneration and Renovation

Highlights of this decade included outstanding programming, the hiring of many key staff personnel and the synagogue renovation. Serving as Congregation presidents were Michael Weinstein, Robert Lowy, Joey Mayo, Pauline Reiter, Marc Bowman and Fred Tobis. Among those honored at University of Judaism dinners were Manny Lott, Ernest Stiefel, Michael Weinstein and Eileen Mintz.

In 1986, Joanne Glosser began serving as Director of Education, a job she would hold for 18 years. Her impact on the lives of our congregants will be felt for many years, as our school focused on creating "menschen." That same year, Rabbi Vicki Hollander served as Program Director. A new computer was purchased and members could use MasterCard and Visa to pay shul dues. HNT sponsored community-wide High Holiday Services, targeting young adults and the unaffiliated. The Ruth and Joseph Frankel Scholarship was established. Rachel Schneider (Schwartz) was President of USJ. Among the youth advisors were Julie Katz and Ken and Stacey Rudee. Eileen and Dave Mintz won $10,000 in the HNT School raffle.

In 1987, storyteller Peninah Schram, writer and activist Danny Seigel, and Rabbi Marc Tanenbaum were featured in our cultural arts series. Youth advisors included Asher Hashash, Iris Toker-Schwartz and Randy Frank. Members Belle and Joseph Kosokoff celebrated their 60th Anniversary. They were the first couple married at Herzl on Spruce Street in Seattle. Sisterhood started "A Gathering of Jewish Women" and held a mother-child Mitzvah lunch. In support of Russian refuseniks, twinning with our Bar And Bat Mitzvah children was common, so that the refusenik children could symbolically have a Bar/Bat Mitzvah. Rabbi Pomerantz left after 18 years and the Sim Shalom siddur became the HNT prayer book.

In 1988, Rabbi H. David Rose was elected to the HNT pulpit, where he remained until 2001. He taught us to "do Jewish." Synagogue renovation started and our cultural arts series sponsored Rabbi Jack Reimer, Professor Leonard Fein and the Yiddish theater music of 2nd Avenue West. HNT contributed to our twin congregation, Bet Hakenem, in Israel, and Norman Schwamberg became Executive Director.

In 1989, the Endowment committee allocated $7,500 for children who could not otherwise attend the pilgrimage to Israel. Herzl Memorial Park bought a 13.77-acre parcel of property near Fall City-Carnation on the east side for $131,000, and the Jewish Coalition for the Homeless was formed.

In 1990, HNT’s Sisterhood and Men's Club jointly hosted a party for Russian immigrant families already settled on the Eastside to meet a new Russian family which HNT helped bring to America. The affair was very successful. HNT, with Surviving Generations of the Holocaust, sponsored Elie Wiesel at the Paramount Theater on April 21. The renovation of the synagogue was completed. The sanctuary was transformed from brown, gold and orange to mauve, burgundy and midnight blue. The new colors were inspired by the Lott-Shabagghlian stained glass windows in the rear of the sanctuary. The reading table on the bimah was moved to the chapel and replaced by two marble-clad reading tables. Norman Sandler, Architect (the company used for the renovation) was awarded the American Society of Designers Gold Award for sanctuary beautification. Elisabeth Beers was the principal decorator and Lucy Sytman headed the HNT renovation committee. The year also marked the first HNT blood drive.

Nadine Strauss changed positions and became Executive Director in 1991, a job she ably continues today. Actor John Procaccino entertained at a Senior lunch program and the Robyn Helzner Trio musicians entertained in the Cultural Arts series. This was the year of Operation Desert Storm and member Robin Boehler, working with over 18 of the Jewish women's organizations of western Washington, set up a 1-800- information line and other programs to meet the need of the Jewish military. A number of HNT members participated in Operation Desert Storm, and thankfully all of them returned safely.

In 1992, Barbara Lahav became Program Director, serving until 2000. The Men's Club held a 60's Dance and Deli night. The HNT membership donated nearly half a million dollars for Operation Exodus to assist immigration of Soviet and Ethiopian Jews into Israel. The year ended with a Chanukah Karaoke Party sponsored by Sisterhood, Men's Club and USY.

The 1993 Cultural Arts programs included world renowned Klezmer clarinetist Giora Feldman, author Anne Roiphe, vocalist Julie Mirel and Rabbi Amy Eilberg. The series was co-sponsored with Temple B'nai Torah. Sisterhood and HNT formed a Rosh Hodesh group and the Weinstein Family Foundation (members Ron and Devorah Weinstein) sponsored Cantor Aaron Bensoussan in a free concert. The next year Hazzan Alberto Mizrahi sang.

1994 brought us the music of Rabbi Shlomo Carlbach, the Mazeltones, Rabbi Joseph Telushkin speaking on Jewish humor, and Israeli vocalist Chava Alberstein. HNT families posed for color pictures for our HNT Directory, the HNT parking lot was re-striped and the HNT Endowment Fund underwrote a creative High Holiday service. High Holy Day shuttle bus service was initiated. To help meet member needs, Sisterhood's Bagels and Blocks group was started for young mothers and their children and HNT sponsored a single parents Havurah. We now had 785 member families, up from 700 in 1990.

1995 marked ten years of service by Cantor Bradlee Kurland and HNT members celebrated this milestone in our beautifully decorated Social Hall, which was transformed into a cabaret. Sisterhood initiated its walking group along with a craft and chat group. They also sponsored an infant/toddler Lag B-Omer gathering and Thomas Toivi Blatt, survivor of Nazi Camp Sobibor, was the Mitzvah event speaker. The HNT Endowment Fund was now sponsoring a morning minyan shuttle, the Scholar-in-Residence weekend, Israel scholarships, and our HNT Cultural Arts Series. The HNT Baseball team won the "C" Division and member Reynold Atlas donated frames and framing for the Past Presidents pictures, which hang in the synagogue Board Room.

The 1996 HNT Cultural Arts series featured vocalist Craig Taubman and later, the Klezmer Conservatory Band. Craig gave several concerts at HNT, including a special program for our HNT school children. He had been a camper at Camp Ramah when Rabbi Rose was a counselor there. HNT membership was growing by leaps and bounds and its programming and staff were expanding to meet the diverse needs of its members. HNT sponsored a High Holiday community-wide service at the JCC to accommodate overflow members of the synagogue and interested non-members. The expansion of women's roles in synagogue life took a major step forward with the hiring of Rabbi Lisa Gelber, the first female to serve as rabbi; she served with Rabbi David Rose.